Trial in death of Md. girl, 6

A Cumberland man is heading to trial in the alleged kidnapping and attempted murder of a 6-year-old girl.

Forty-five-year-old Stephen Westfall was scheduled for a jury trial Wednesday in Allegany County Circuit Court.

He is charged with snatching the child near her Cumberland home and driving her to a rural area north of town where he allegedly choked her, beat her in the head with a rock and left her for dead in a dry creek bed.

The incident touched off a 12-day manhunt that ended when Westfall's girlfriend told police he was hiding in a Grantsville church.

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